USA > New York > Ecclesiastical records, state of New York, Volume VI > Part 24
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Solomon says in Proverbs, 14, "Fools make a mock of sin; but among the righteons there Is favour." Now I do not want to be considered a fool. I would much rather, If I have given any offense, or been the occasion of offense to any church of God, pubilcly to confess my disgraceful sins, and ask forgiveness at the throne of grace, where pardon can ever be obtained, to the glory of God the Father.
It was about the middle of December, 1762, that, about eventide, I went to one of our nelghboring merchants to parchase some of the necessarles of life for my famlly. After I had finished my business I sat down by the fire to warm myself. 1 found that there were many of my bitter enemles under the same roof. They watched me very closely. The weather being very cold, they ordered the grocer to give them a glass of brandy. One after another of these enemles of mme drank very freely from the Intoxicating cup ; and I, by not being closely on my guard, became somewhat intoxicated through their Influence. This of course, was an occasion songht by them for slander and cainmny. They immediately spread the report throughout my congregation. Thereupon my Consistory convened, and passed a resolution to the effect that Rev. Leydt, a pastor of a neighboring church, (New Brunswick) should be Invited to be present. The Rev. Leydt accepted the invitation from iny consistory. He brought with him Rev. Van Harlingen (of Neshanic), and each took an elder with him, for the purpose of convening with my consistory. Rev. Leydt presided on this occasion.
I having been summoned to appear before this body, came unhesitatingly. Hev. Leydt opened the meeting with prayer, In which he addressed God as righteous and holy, one who could not in the least have anything to do with sin. And further- more, he referred to me as pastor of a church. Hle also said, In his prayer, that I was a pastor, called according to the Rules of the Church, but that I had never had the Internal call, nor a commission from God to that office. And therefore, sald he. that God, by virtue of his hollness and his righteousness, could not suffer me to retain this my holy office. This gave me no little perplexity. Thereupon, I requested the Consistory to restore me to my office and duties, (after I had been denied these privileges for six weeks), and I would make an humble confession of this my grevlous offense, In one of my sermons. My request was not granted. Moreover I was informed by the President, that I should abstain from preaching the Gospel and administerIng the sacraments, for an unlimited time.
I besonght them to limit the thne of this my punishment, and Informed them that there was a difference between my case and that of habitual drunkenness, according to Art. 50° of the Church Disciplin. But my proposition and Information were dis- regarded and they were not to be moved In their decision.
Revs. Leydt and Van Harlingen, by consent of my consistory, occupied my pulpit in turn. They came In turn once every month to preach and to administer the holy sacrament of baptism.
Rev. (Jacob R.) Hardenberg, meanwhile had made a proposition before the Classis (to go to Holland) to visit his mother-in-law and other friends, in the Spring
*In Article 80 of the Rules of the Synod of Dort, "habitual drunkenness" was one of the sins worthy of discipline. It was not until 1832 that "habitual" was stricken out.
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of 1763, in Amsterdam, for the purpose of bringing them over to this side. A special meeting of the Coetus was called in April to consider this proposition (of his trip to Holland.) Rev. Hardenberg was appointed and requested to use all his influence while there, to have the Coetus changed into a formal Classis, so that they could have the authority of holding examinations. You, Rev. Sirs, are aware, whether he performed this, his commission.
At this special meeting of the Coetus, Rev. Leydt with Revs. Jackson and Van Harlingen, each with one of his elders, were appointed a committee to take action, at my place, concerning my trouble. Rev. Jackson and his elder did not make their appearance. They excused themselves from acting as part of the committee, on the ground of indisposition. Revs. Leydt and Van Harlingen with their elders were present at the appointed hour.
I was summoned to appear before this Committee. I then requested them to release me from this my suspension. My consistory was unwilling to give their consent to their granting my request. They also had, without my knowledge, pro- vided three witnesses against me. These three witnesses were my relatives; viz. Christlan Cretzinger and his wife, and Elizabeth Killum, a young girl of 16 or 17 years of age. These testified, in favor of the censure. They said that there had been a half gallon of rum in my house; that I was very restless during the night ; and in the morning, it appeared to them that I had drunk too much.
When I wanted to defend myself against this charge, the Rev. Leydt, who was President of the meeting, answered me, that these people had made the accusation ; that it was sufficient, and that I was not permitted to defend myself.
The suspension under which I was held, continued. These Rev. gentlemen still came once a month to preach in my pulpit, and to administer the sacred rite of baptism. This they could easily do. Financially, It brought them considerable gain ; for my Consistory defrayed their traveling expenses, and remunerated them well for their services.
Finally, in the month of August, the above mentioned pastors, in connection with my Consistory, held another consistorial meeting. They invited a Justice of the Peace who was not a member of our church, nor indeed of any other, but who was accustomed to attend the Independent church services rather than ours, to take the testimony of persons against me, who were not church members. These wit- nesses were the above named persons, together with another young woman, Annie Walker, by name. They testified that they had not seen me drunk, but that I was quite far gone.
The regular session of the Coetus was held the first Tuesday of the following October. They met a little above Kingston. The witnesses, and the testimony of the witnesses, were brought before this Coetus by these Rev. gentlemen. I was unable to attend this session because of the distance from my home. My Consistory also sent them a communication by letter, the tenor of which I do not know, neither was I permitted to know It. Of this latter assertion of mine, I am certain, for the following reasons : One of my friends offered one of my elders a Spanish dollar for the privilege of looking over the letter, whereupon he received the answer, that neither he, nor any one else should ever see nor read the letter. I was condemned by this so-called Coetus without having had the opportunity of defending myself. The verdict passed by the Coetus was sent to my house by the Rev. Leydt, who was the Scribe Extraordinary.
The principle contents of the verdict were as follows: The Coetus, so-called, dissolves the pastoral relation between my congregation and myself, and authorizes my people to call another pastor in my place.
The Coetus appointed three different candidates for the ministry. One of them, who needed a new coat and a piece of bread, was invited by the Coetus to preach in my church, which now had had no regular preaching for some time, for the purpose of showing his talents and to gain the favor of the church. This young candidate had preached only once every Sabbath, since last December, because he was unable to preach twice a day. And even by preaching but once on the Lord's day he was obliged to read his sermon from a manuscript. I was not at all surprised at this. If a man can acquire the necessary knowledge, and a suitable familiarity with the languages which a minister needs, in three or four years, I appeal to your honors to decide.
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And further, if this pretended Coetus has the power and authority to depose and install ministers according to their pleasure, then I must openly confess that I do not understand Article 79 of church government. This Article plainly declares that no minister can be deposed without the advice of the venerable Classls. Nor does the letter, which was written to us by the Classis on Jan. 13, 1763, which says, that matters of difference must be decided by a majority of the members in any ecclesi- asticai body, allow any such thing. (Article 31.)* It only makes the provision for a majority vote, by the members present in any such body, In order that the accused person may have an opportunity to appeal to a higher court-the Classis. This privilege was denled me. I doubt not but that your honors will receive further information concerning that Assembly, which styles itself "A Convention ", and which has caused such a dreadful schism and alienatlons among and in the churches of this country. They claim the power of ordaining whom they please. Rev. Leydt clalms authority also-in direct opposition to the Classis and the Synod of North Holland-that such right Is inherent in the Coetus. Your honors have, no doubt, received his pamphlets, in which he claims this right.
Having now given you a full account, and also in their regular order, of the proceedings (acts) of Rev. Leydt and his party, who call themselves the Coetus, I will also, for this Is proper, describe to you the characters of those who have come up against me as accusers :
The first named, Christian Critzengen, is a High Dutchman by birth, from northern Germany. He was sold, a few years ago, for a single fare from Holland to Pennsylvanla. Having served his time as a sort of slave, he went to sea as a privateersman, in the war of Spain and France, against England. He was engaged in sinking the vessels of the enemy. When the war was ended he came to reside in my neighborhood. He considered himself a respectable man. He married a woman, who had engaged herself as a servant for eight years to a certain Joseph Van Mettere. This Joseph Van Mettere was grievously provoked at me, because I had, contrary to hls wishes, performed the marrlage ceremony for liis father-in-law, in a second marriage. This union also proved to be unfortunate ; it caused much trouble in the famlly and dissenslon in the church. Joseph Van Mettere attempted to show that this woman was of a bad character. He would have moved heaven and earth, if it could have been done, to have accomplished his object. Ile even went so far as to try to make the children of his father-in-law to say all manner of evil and to slander thelr step mother, In order, If possible, to dissolve the marriage.
These people lived in one of the back rooms of my house. I had them live there In order to work my land on shares. The mother of the family was frequently invited to make visits, by the daughters of her former master. She was constantly questioned about the news of the day and especially of affairs in my house. And as is usually the case, many lles were mixed in with the truth. This was true in a special manner in our case ; for when the woman had reelted all the news about me and my family she could think of, to her former master, she was obliged to stick to everything she had said, in order not to be looked upon and called a liar.
How much I am disappointed in her husband, I can hardly express. My experl- ence with him has clearly proved to me that he is not the man I took him to be. I always thought him to be an honest and moral man, but I have found him to be a blasphemer, etc., the llke of which I have not often seen. He evidently cared not for God nor man.
The other two witnesses were young servant girls, both of whom had been employed by my wife. Their services came to an end, not belng any longer satis- factory to my wife. My wife paid them all that she owed them and let them go. At this they were greatly enraged and felt very bitterly towards her.
These servant girls after they had left my house were welcomed by the man and woman who lived in the back rooms of the building. Here they remained all night. In the morning the lady of the house went with one of the girls to her parents, and in the afternoon her husband followed. Here the conspiracy against
*Article 31. "If any person conceive himself aggrieved by the decision of a lesser Assembly, he shall have the liberty and right of appealing to a higher, and that which is determined by a majority of volces In such Assembly, shall be held decisive and binding, unless it can be demonstrated to be contrary to the Word of God and these Articles."
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me was formed. To me this is very clear, in that they not. only agree in facts, but also in the very words. This certainly would not have been the case, nor would it be probable, if they had not recited this lesson over so often as to enable them to remember and repeat it verbally.
Still, I am not the first minister of the Gospel who, through false accusations and perjuries has been tried as I am now. The Revs. Beis, (Beys) Slater, Gutzius, (J. H. Goetschius), and others have passed through similar ordeals. And this is not to be wondered at, for the servant is not better than his Lord, and He experi- enced the same treatment which I have of late experienced.
Concerning the testimony of these witnesses I have this to say : I do not deny that my wife, who at the time was ill and had a severe cough, ordered half a gallon of rum by this Christian Critzengen, who was about to go to town with grain. One half of this rum was set aside to be used afterwards as medicine, and the other half was mixed with water and drunk, just before we retired that evening. Part of the last half, however, was boiled with butter and milk, which I used to cure my hoarseness. From this, Rev. gentlemen, you will clearly perceive that the cause of my restlessness that night was not owing to strong drink. If you, dear Sirs, should look at my condition deliberately, could you not account for my restlessness upon other grounds than drunkenness? I have been obliged to pass the greater part of the nights of the past winter, even on my own hearth-stone, in trouble and sorrow.
Concerning the second part of the testimony from these people, given under oath, I have the following to say : It came to pass, after this man had finished mowing his grain, that he came home, and having a little rum left in his bottle, my wife took it and mixed it with water, butter, and sugar, boiled it, poured it in a cup and brought it to me, requesting me to drink of it. Twice I refused to take it, saying that I did not feel well, that I disliked it, and that it nauseated me. My wife, however, persisted in having me drink of it. After still further resistance I finally consented to use a little so as to satisfy her. Shortly after this, one of my domestics, a relative I suppose, testified under oath, that I had not been drunk but under the influence of strong drink. This was her positive testimony. Now, dearly honored Sirs, even had this testimony been true, do you consider it right for these, my domestics, to inspect my house and then thus expose matters? You can easily infer what sort of people they were who rose up against me as accusers.
And further concerning the causes of this trouble in my church: besides the above mentioned marriage, there was another marriage which was an additional cause. It was that of a widow. She has six children. They were very much opposed to have their mother marry a second time. They succeeded in their opposition for five or six years. Finally, the widow came to me and requested me to unite her in marriage with her suitor. I took it for granted that she had received the consent of her children. I therefore united her in wedlock. This enraged the children against me exceedingly. They declared that they would give me plenty of trouble. They swore that they would endeavor to excite the feelings of each and every one of my people against me. This is not a very difficult task to accomplish, especially in the country, where they are nearly all related to one another, either by marriage or as blood relatives.
I consider myself in duty bound, since I have been a minister of the Gospel for more than forty three years, and have had much success, to lay these my complaints before your venerable body, that I may not be obliged, at the age of sixty eight, to sink into the grave as a deposed minister of the Gospel.
Living in the hope that your honors will consider my case as though it were your own, and that you will restore me to my pastoral office, in opposition to this so-called Coetus, I remain while praying for your prosperity, for your persons and families, and also for your office, Highly Honored Sirs and Brethren in the Lord- Your loving and kindly disposed brother,
Freehold, July 16, 1764.
Reinhardt Erickzon.
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ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
PETITION OF SIR JAMES JAY TO THE KING, JULY 17, 1764, FOR A
GRANT OF LAND FOR KINGS COLLEGE. (SEE JULY 23). To the King's Most Excellent Majesty In Council.
The Memorial and humble Petition of Sir James Jay, Knight. in behalf of the Governors of King's College in the City of New York in America. Sheweth.
That although the said Seminary Hath been honoured with the most distinguish- ing Mark of Your Majesty's Royal favour, yet the superlor importance it Is become of to your Majesty's American Dominions In consequence of the acquisition of Canada and its dependance encourages him to hope that his present application In favour of It will meet with your Majesty's gracious approbation.
That in order that the necessity and importance of the said Seminary may be rightly understood he begs leave to mentlon Its origin, progress and present situation.
The several Gentlemen In the Province of New York, observing the many incon- reniences and Disorders that prevailed In America In General, and that Colony in particular from the different opinlons, manner and customs of the Inhabitants, and apprehending that more fatal evils would arise among a people, composed of various Nations, differing In language and In their principles of Rellgion and Government If left destitute of the proper means of Education endeavoured to establish a sont- Inary for their lustruction.
That It was also observed that many of those evlis, were In a great measure owing to the want of proper Ministers and Teachers, and that It was Impossible to obtain a sufficient supply of able Instructors unless opportunities were provided for educating them there, as few men of proper qualifications here could be Induced to quit thelr hopes In these Klugdoms, for a laborious employment in a remote wilderness where they are to expect but small secular advantage to reward their toll.
That sundry circumstances rendered these considerations the more immediately Interesting and particularly the amazing pains, which your Majesty's Popish Ene- mies were every where percelved to take for the propagation of their pecullar Tenents and the many Establishments they were making for that purpose In all the Countrys of America subjected to them, wlille your Majesty's numerons subjects there, remained too liable to their corruptlons by being spread abroad on a wide frontier without a sufficient number of Protestant Ministers among them.
That from a just sence of these growing evils a College was erected In New York, not Indeed to alm at any high Improvements In literature but to guard against total Ignorance to Instill into the minds of Youth true principles of Rellgion, a veneratlon for the British Constitution, and a grateful sence of the many Blessings we enjoy under your Majesty's anspitlous Government, to Instruct them In such useful Arts and branches of knowledge as are necessary to Trade Agriculture and the due Improvement of your valuable Colonys there, and lastly, to assist in raising up a succession of faithful Instructors to be sent forth among our own people and the Indians In alllance with us, In order to teach them the ways of truth to save them from the corruptions of the Enemy and wipe away the reproach of suffering the E'mlssarles of a false Rellgion to be more zealous In propagating their slavish and destructive Tenets, than we are In promoting the glorious plan of publle Llberty and happiness committed to us.
That with these generous vlews, the sald Seminary was begun about Ten years ago, and Is placed under the Inspection of the Government and Established Church. The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and the first Lord of Trade and Plantations, and the Chlef Officers In the Government of the Colony, belng by the Charter of Incorporation, Governours of It in virtue of thelr Offices-That besides a sum of Money granted by the Assembly It has been chlefly supported, by the liberal con- tributions of Individuals, excepting that the venerable Society in London for Propa- gating the Gospel, belng sensible how much the undertaking would contribute to the extension of Rellglon and virtue assisted them with a donation of 500 pounds.
But, as undertakings of such an extensive nature even in the most wealthy king-
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doms, have seldom been compleated, unless by the united generosity of many pri- vate benefactors, and often by the bounty of Sovereign princes, it cannot be thought strange that all the resources in the power of individuals in a young Colony should be found insufficient for the purpose, and that the Governors of the College should be reduced to the necessity of soliciting the assistance of their mother Country to enable them to carry on this useful work .-
That your petitioner was accordingly appointed to represent the design and state of the undertaking, and to solicit and to receive the benefactions of pious and well disposed people in Brittain, and that he has so far succeeded in his endeavours as that including Your Majesty's Gracious Donation of 400 pounds; the private bene- factions of many of the Nobility, Gentry and Clergy, and the sum collected on your Majesty's Royal Brief, he will be enabled to remit on the whole about five thousand pounds clear of all expences.
That as there is little, or no prospect of obtaining further assistance in the Province, and as the sum of five thousand pounds is insufficient to carry on the design even in its present confined manner much less to render it of more extensive and general utility, your petitioners, considering that the Universities in Brittain and Ireland were liberally endowed with lands, by your Majesty's Illustrous Prede- cessors and relying on your Majesty's known regard for the advancement of Reli- gion and useful knowledge is encouraged to pray that your Majesty will be pleased to grant a Tract of Land in the Province of New York, to the aforesaid Seminary, but as the unappropriated lands in that Province are in a remote wilderness at a great distance from the improved parts of the Colony; that as it must be a long time before they can be cultivated or rendered of any advantage and as the profits that will arise from them are to be applied for the public benefit, he for these reasons, without adducing as precedents the great privileges, exemptions and indul- gencies, that were granted to similar Institutions in Brittain & Ireland by former Princes, hopes, that it will seem reasonable that the usual terms of Cultivation and Quit Rent, on which lands are granted to private persons, should be dispensed with on this occasion and therefore particularly prays:
That your Majesty will be pleased to grant twenty thousand Acres of land in the Province of New York, free of the conditions of cultivation and Quit Rents to the Governors of the College of the Province of New York, in the City of New York in America, for the use and behoof of the said College, and that the said Governors have leave to locate the quantity of lands allowed the said College out of any of the Crown Lands in the said province before any person or persons who have obtained orders for lands in the said province, are permitted to locate the same.
And your Majesty's Petitioner, as in duty bound shall ever pray etc.
(signed) James Jay. -Col. Docs. N. Y. Vol. vii, pp. 643-5.
London, 17 July, 1764.
CHURCH OF NEW YORK. Repairs. Manor of Fordham.
New York, July 18, 1764.
Consistory held after calling on God's name.
1. Resolved, That the front of the New Church be furnished with new sash windows, because the old panes are so broken as to be not worth renewal; the few panes remaining unbroken may serve for mending others.
2. That a Balcony be made on the New Church such as is on the Old English Church.
3. That the cost of the three pieces of silver, which have been made into tank- ards, to be sent as a present to Amsterdam, be paid for out of the sale of the pews; and that the committee send the same by the first opportunity.
4. It was further agreed that the arrears of rent due on the pews in the New Church shall not be demanded, for certain reasons; but henceforth payment shall be exacted.
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